Not So Bad After All
by EternalKing
Summary: A series of 1A and 1B oneshots as they discover that maybe the Explosive Beast of 1-A isn't as bad as he acts. Inspired by MHA fics by AnonymousTwit. First chapter Starts after the team battle between Team Bakugo and Team Tokage.
1. Chapter 1

Not so bad after all.  
A series of 1A and 1B oneshots as they discover that maybe the Explosive Beast of 1-A isn't as bad as he acts. Inspired by MHA fics by AnonymousTwit. First chapter Starts after the team battle between Team Bakugo and Team Tokage.

Bakugo is best boi and nobody can tell me otherwise.

* * *

A groggy Setsuna was helped up by Awase who had a small headache and was talking louder than he needed to.

Setsuna's pride was hurt. _Badly_.

She knew from the start of the class that winning against 1A wouldn't be easy. That was proved even more in seeing the previous battles as they gave a fight.

Even against Bakugo and his team, who she knew were a strong combination, shouldn't have been able to steamroll them as easily as they did.

That seamless teamwork of team 4A had been so much better than their own.

_'You've changed too much!'_

_'I haven't changed at all. I still have the same goal since the beginning...'_

_'I'm going to surpass All Might and be the Number One Hero!'_

Setsuna certainly believed what he said, even if she did think that it was weird about how easy of a time he had working with the other three, but that power was the real deal. Her separated pieces attacking him wildly weren't strong enough to stop anyone but he shouldn't have been able to just shrug them off as he basically did.

The downtrodden Team 4B walked alongside the cheering Sato and Sero, which felt like salt on the wound, as earned as it was. Jirou, and both thankfully and surprisingly, Bakugo, were a lot more calm about their victory.

"Man, who would have expected that to go like it did right?" Sero said aloud with his grin.

Awase responded while rubbing his head. "That should be our line. That was way beyond what we expected."

Jirou snorted. "Trust me, we didn't think Bakugo would work that well with us either."

Bakugo ignored their conversation as he kept a bored look while walking in front of them. Honestly she was still expecting him to pull a Monoma and trashtalk them any moment now.

Awase looked over to the explosive blonde. "But seeing Bakugo fly around so easily was pretty crazy too. It was definitely faster than I thought it would be." No doubt about that. He was even able to head to her position so soon after Sero taped that grenade to one of her pieces that she barely even heard him coming.

Setsuna twirled her hair as she grimaced. "I guess this is the difference between experience and training. I also hadn't thought you would be able to recover as well as you did when we made the first move."

Kamakiri rubbed his cheek, sore about the fact that they lost or that he was thrown hard into a wall.

"Bakugo was definitely a big help there." Sato said while rubbing his chin. He would have gotten taken out if Bakugo hadn't taken that blow to the chin(something that should have at least rattled him, only for it to not).

"Definitely. I hadn't picked up Kamakiri at all because of Tokage."

"And we definitely didn't expect Awase to show up out of nowhere like that."

Setsuna took comfort that at least they were caught off guard in the beginning. It helped her save what little face she could in front of the others.

"Back then..." Bakugo said quietly while looking forward and it seemed to quiet them all down.

"Back then, Headband had me fucking pinned for a few moments. If you idiots hadn't focused on retreating for your shitty hit and run plan, you could have taken out one of the others while I would have to focus on getting out." Then he snorted. "Or they could have actually bothered to use the grenades I gave em to save their own asses. But either way, having a plan and following it or even trying to make a new plan can only fucking help so much when your enemies don't intend on giving you any moments to breathe."

The advice(?) stunned his classmates while she and her own were trying to understand if he was insulting them or helping them.

As for Setsuna, she couldn't deny that what he said was true. The plan to try and avoid Bakugo may have backfired during the actual battle. It was originally so they could make a new plan and gather themselves, but in the end they didn't even get the chance to retreat, let alone plan.

"Look at you, helping out the enemy." Sero prodded Bakugo with a bigger grin. "Guess those extra classes have been helping eh?"

Bakugo just flipped him off and continued walking. "I would barely call it helping out the enemy when they were just plain outmatched by us. They would have needed a complex trap to avoid it being destroyed by my explosions and we would have interrupted them making it since we were aiming to make the first move too. Them losing was inevitable the way the match went. Headband is the only one who could withstand my attacks and doing just that leaves him open for Ears to take him down with us watching her back. Her whole damn class of Extras are too rigid and focused on what they think they can use against us to realize they're just leaving themselves open. Four Eyes, Ponytail, and Dunce Face are the proof of that."

Again, she had to wonder if he was insulting them or not, but Bakugo had confidence in his ability and for good reason. His explosions were practically the key to his victory, as they basically knocked out Kamakiri while leaving Bondo and Awase open for capture. Even she had gotten caught off guard by the grenade badly enough that he was able to sneak/throw himself right next to her. They would have needed a lot of rubble and glue to even trap them given Bakugo could make some huge explosions and the others apparently had his grenades.

Bakugo turned around just enough so she could see the side of his face and his eye. "Next time don't let your fucking team split up when your teamwork's your only strength in a fight and maybe you won't get bodied so damn easily."

His own classmates mentioned that he was being too harsh on her and gloating too much, but she couldn't help but think he had a point once again. Her team planned to separate him from his team to make taking them down so easily, but in the end it was Bakugo, the one they targeted and expected to leave behind his team and ignore them when they were in danger, who had managed to split them up and left them in the palms of his teammates.

"Geez. Ain't a guy like you too perfect for a fight? I know who'd be my first pick in a team fight, cuz I don't think we'd be able to win a rematch easily." As if his reflexes and quirk wasn't enough, he also had a good idea of what needed to be done in a fight and even knew what he could do alone and what he couldn't, that wasn't even including what he could do with his own quirk(which amazingly including flying and enhancing his own movements, both of which were difficult to do with explosions) even during Winter.

Kamakiri and Awase looked at her in surprise while Bondo didn't show any reaction, on the other hand Sero and Sato couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Tch. I'll face you bastards any day of the week. Just get ready for another world of pain." She actually had to stretch her back at that. That stun grenade was vicious.

Jirou still rolled her eyes and had a small smile. "Well, if you want him on your team be ready for this guy to interject and ignore any plan he thinks is stupid."

"Shut it Ears! I only ignored your stupid cautious plan because it would have fucked us over and I was right!"

Sato and Jirou decided to just shrug, being used to Bakugo and his way of speaking probably. Seeing them, she couldn't help but think back to the way he talked at the Sports Festival. It was excessive like it was now, but at the same time, it felt muted as well.

She actually hoped Monoma would learn to hold back as well.

Sero on the other hand seemed to have some balls on him as he kept talking to Bakugo. "Do you ever approve any plan that isn't yours?"

This time when Bakugo turned around it was to Sero and Jirou, his eyes smirking even if his face was still pressed like he was bored. "I helped you losers kill U.A with music didn't I?"

Jirou blushed while Sero laughed pleasantly.

Setsuna and Awase could only exchange looks of pleasant surprise as well.

Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Review for faster updates. Praising him might not be what Bakugo wants, but it's what he deserves, and what he needs.

* * *

Itsuka's internship with Miruko was going a lot better than she honestly thought it was.

For one thing, the Pro Hero was just not the type to work with others, which naturally included taking on students from Hero schools.

Except apparently, her fellow intern had challenged the Pro to a small fight, if he could land a decisive blow, she would take him as an intern.

He won the bet, but had apparently lost consciousness after. Miruko, not one to go back on her word, took him in while warning him that she wouldn't go easy on him or change what she did.

Which was apparently what he wanted, as Miruko was a Pro that was always fighting and searching for a fight.

Itsuka had followed his example(having heard what he did from Yaoyorozu and some of 1-A), not expecting to succeed but was pleasantly surprised that she landed a hit Miruko. Up until then, she wasn't able to receive an internship she was really interested in, not having any reputation except for her looks.

The internship was a complete contrast with her and Yaoyorozu's time with Uwabami. She spent most of the time patrolling with the Pro and fellow intern, and was gaining popularity and recognition besides being "one of the pretty girls from that one ad". Even Miruko's approval ratings were rising since apparently taking them on gave a small change in her image. In the beginning she was worried she would be too slow, but Miruko had given her advice which kept her with them(there was even actual helpful input from her partner).

The best part might just be watching her fellow student cursing at and terrifying the low class scum when waiting for the police with Miruko joining in on mocking them. Although right now it was more like just watching her fellow student since Miruko went off to catch the leader, leaving them with the other two. It was hardly a fight.

"You so much as twitch and I'll turn you into paste. Got it?" He said, his hand gripping the criminals head as it was pressed into the ground, while he used his other to strip any belongings, technological or otherwise. She on the other hand had the other guy unconscious and held in one of her big hands like a doll.

And speaking of technology, "Hey, Ground Zero, so these are the fourth guys this week that had some black market goods that self destructed right?"

He grunted, taking out some Trigger that was hidden in one of the pockets. "Who fucking knows. Since every single one of em have malfunctioned in some way, they're likely all meant to be prototypes of some kind, probably trying to work some kinks out or gather data. With how many there's been, chances are the assholes making em are trying to have enough for an army. Seeing as these fucking things destroyed themselves after the fights, whoever's making these has to be easily identified."

The thought of that actually terrified her. She's spent enough time with him to know that he had some strong intuition, and the thought of their classes helping the pros fight an army's worth of villains was chilling. Maybe if All Might-sensei hadn't retired she would feel more confident about it. As it was, the odds weren't looking great. It reminded her of the initial Trigger panics years back.

Ground Zero squeezed the punk's head a little harder. "And I bet these fucking losers don't got any relevant information like the rest. Only fucking idiots like these dipshits buy crap from people who don't even show their faces. Villains or not."

It was admittedly, very, very annoying to hear each of the villains caught admit they had no idea who gave them their weapons and items. Even for criminals buying anything from someone who doesn't bother with an alias has to be sketchy, especially since reputation is important in the underworld.

Hopefully the pros and the police could find something identifying from the tech remains or find a way to get the black market items without them being destroyed.

"Police still aren't here? It's been more than a minute hasn't it?" The Pro Hero returned with the head punk being dragged by the neck.

"Calm your tits. They're nearby already." He spoke roughly like always. It never ceases to amaze her that he had no problem talking to their own teachers and the Pro heroes like that.

Thank god, the police arrived to take the criminals into their custody, keeping Miruko from responding as she was in a hurry to get back on patrol.

"We thank you for your help!" One of the policemen said to them as they handcuffed the criminals.

"It's not a problem! We're glad to have helped!" She talked for them, knowing that they didn't really have any response that would sound 'good'.

With that, they were left back to their patrol, and Miruko hadn't forgotten Ground Zero's words.

She squeezed his shoulder as she teased him. "I noticed that perp of yours was the only one conscious." She ignored the tick mark, taking it as a sign of success. "What's the deal? Getting too tired to keep up with us?"

He only growled. But now that Miruko brought it up, she did find it odd that his target was conscious. While it wasn't like he always knocked out criminals, he actually went pretty easy on the guy.

"Don't be stupid. The damn mook's quirk transformed parts of his body into sharpened glass. If I wasn't careful I might have screwed up and hurt him more than I needed to. Plus I had to be more careful if he fucking had that Trigger bullshit, which I fucking called."

Battle Fist couldn't help but smile and giggle as Ground Zero turned it back on Miruko, making fun of how it took her more than a minute to catch what was nothing more than a goon. In the end Miruko held Ground Zero in a chokehold trying to get him to call uncle only for the explosive beast to tell her to get laid.

Maybe it wasn't on purpose, but he really was funnier and better than she thought.

When Testutetsu told 1-B about how arrogant the other hero Class was she had been a bit concerned that he was blowing things out of proportion, after all he didn't exactly go there with the best of intentions, but seeing Bakugo declare he would beat everyone in the Sports Festival seemed to be the evidence the class needed to determine they didn't like 1-A. Personally, as bold and somewhat stupid as it was, she thought that everyone was being more insulted than he actually meant to do, and after actually talking with him and seeing him insult criminals, it was clear that if he honestly wanted to insult the other students that it would be really obvious.

When the villains attacked their training camp, and they had a handful of injured students and Bakugo being kidnapped, she wouldn't deny that her resolve shook for a few moments. But losing heart wouldn't do anything but put the villain's in a better position, so she stayed in the Hero Course, and seeing Bakugo turn up unscathed and as aggressive as ever was like reassurance that she didn't need to fear being a hero.

She overheard Yaoyorozu mention that Bakugo was a better hero than he looked, and even Tetsutetsu mentioned that Kirishima seemed to really admire Bakugo. She didn't get it, but figured Class 1-A would say the same about Monoma.

But patrolling with him, and occasionally asking for his help, she understood what they meant.

He was a hero on the path of becoming the Number One Hero, not letting himself be satisfied with anything else but the best. He looked at challenges with a smile and tried his best to crush them as best as he could.

He was Ground Zero, the epicenter of a Villain's defeat.

And maybe, just maybe, he wasn't actually as bad as he looked.

Now if only he could calm down just a little more, and clean up his language while he was at it, and he would easily be a Top Hero. Either way, Monoma could learn a thing or two from the guy in her opinion. Ground Zero was actually pleasant to work with, as much as her classmate hated hearing it.


	3. Chapter 3

NsBAA 3

Uraraka liked to think she was good friends with Deku.

She also liked to think she was rather close with Bakugo.

Aside from Kirishima, she was one of the first in their class to realize he wasn't as aggressive as he looked...okay well he was definitely as aggressive as he looked, just not all the time.

Deku seemed to be the one thing that pissed him off the most. Even Todoroki didn't compare to Deku in how easy it was to set him off.

But ever since they fought each other and got placed under House Arrest, it was like a majority of Bakugo's anger to Deku had disappeared. Outside the times he curses Deku instinctively anyways.

The point is, she thought Bakugo was actually really cool in a non ironic way. He had a lot of traits that reminded her of Deku, except that Bakugo was just so much more determined and serious than Deku was if she was being honest.

Which could easily be misunderstood, but she was right. Deku didn't have the heart to really fight his classmates in Hero Classes, as opposed to Bakugo who took them seriously while still holding back just enough. It actually reminded her of All Might when he still had his powers and was training them, as both were like an impossible wall that couldn't be beat conventionally and sometimes even then still got out of hotspots.

Their fight at the sports festival still left a bitter feeling inside her, but mostly at her own lack of stamina. After all, there was no way she could have foreseen that Bakugo could unleash an explosion that huge and wipe out her trump card in a single blast. She would've preferred to lose because he blasted her hard enough to launch her out the ring or send her into unconsciousness rather than fall flat on her face because she was tired.

Anyways, the point was, Bakugo was actually a pretty cool guy.

Shoji, Shishida and Honenuki from B class, Momo, Bakugo, and her were sent to replenish the groceries at the dorms as well as get supplies for a little celebratory party between the two classes, and Bakugo wasn't yelling at them at all. Which might have to do with the falling snow.

It was a good day, until a group of people who looked like 1980s delinquents were blocking them from returning from the supermarket.

"Well well well!" They even talked like them as well. "Look who we have here boys!"

"Some kids from U.A it looks? Look at em, carrying all these bags, what do you think they're gonna do with em? Maybe they're gonna give it to the 'less fortunate' like us?"

Bakugo looked irritated the moment they decided to block their paths, but left talking to the punks to Momo and Shishida. It showed a remarkable amount of restraint that he hadn't even yelled at them.

"Now gentlemen, there's really no need for this." Shishida held a placating hand up.

"Oh? But what if we do need this hairballs? After all, because of famous students like you other people get left behind in the dust ya know?" Said one of them who had a snake wearing a horned helmet growing from his back that matched a tattoo. It hissed at them and Bakugo's eyes narrowed in what looked like recognition or confusion.

Another one of em with pure red eyes and no pupils or white stepped up. "Don't you think you owe people like us for letting you all shine?"

"I must ask you all to step aside, you are beginning to disrupt the public order and there is nothing good that will come from this." Momo said to them. A crowd was beginning to form around them and Uraraka saw a few teenagers pull out their phones.

Honenuki leaned over to her and Shoji. "Is it just me or does this look like it'll end in a fight?"

Shoji stretched a mouth over to them behind his back. "We must hold ourselves back from starting the fight. Unless they move first we need to remain calm."

That lead them to look at Bakugo, who looked remarkably bored, except his eyes were swinging from one punk to the next, scanning them for...something.

"Alright, so maybe we don't need those bags, but you and your friend could join us for some fun. I bet you fancy students don't know the best spots for 'fun' in the city." The leader said. He had a gold tooth shining from his smile and his ear piercings.

Momo smiled politely but sternly. "We must refuse that offer. Now, please excuse us. Our classes are celebrating tonight in order to prepare ourselves for the new semester. If you wish to have 'fun', I'm sure you can all be satisfied with each other." That had to be the most passive aggressive "go fuck each other" she ever heard. She wondered if Momo was taking cues from Bakugo there.

"Well in that case, why don't we have fun here first? I'm sure you'll change your mind when you realize how 'cool' we are." One of them pulled back a sleeve to reveal some sort of gauntlet, and the air began to freeze, no, it condensed.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to have too much fun around all these people right?" Another one of them with the same gauntlet rolled back his sleeves and began to toss up a snowball, except it looked more like a giant ball of ice, which got larger and larger.

The Hero Course Students of U.A looked at each other. It was clear the punks weren't just blowing hot air, not if they were using some sort of equipment and their quirks to 'threaten' them.

Bakugo handed his bags to Shoji and walked to them. "You idiots aren't very smart are you?"

That took the other group off guard as they didn't think any of them would stand up to their 'invitations'.

"There's a reason tattoos are no longer signs of dedication and loyalty among the Yakuza. Next time you might want to cover up those neck snake tattoos and gold ear piercings."

Now that he brought it up, Uraraka realized that despite it being so cold out, none of them were wearing scarves, proudly showing off their neck tattoos.

Immediately the U.A students prepared to respond, slowly putting down their bags as to not alert anyone, while the apparent gang was dumbfounded, as if not understanding how they were caught.

"It took me awhile to recognize it, but I took down one of your boys on patrol earlier this week. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that his weak ass belonged to a bunch of assmunchers like yourselves." With that Bakugo ripped off his gloves as the leader responded in anger.

The leader lunged, his arm red with steam, only for Bakugo to bat his hand so it angled to his own face, and he broke his own golden tooth. Bakugo kicked him back as he called for Honenuki and Momo.

The rest responded seeing their leader kicked back, red eyes shot a laser beam looking at Bakugo and gauntlet guy and snowball sent a wave of snow that was turning to ice at Bakugo as well.

Bakugo let Honenuki soften the ice and blasted it back to the punks while Momo blocked the eye beams with a shield. He then used some weak AP Shots to hit and immobilize the grunts.

Shishida, Shoji and Uraraka lunged at the rest and subdued them using Bakugo's provided openings before they could make a move that would endanger the crowd. Shishida' beast form crushed them to the ground and Shoji's arms knocked them out no problem, meanwhile Uraraka's martial arts held them down in a subdued position.

The few who weren't subdued rushed at them, specifically Bakugo as he ran towards them. But they hadn't expected him to cause and explosion that sent him over them and creating smokescreen, leaving them to be hit knocked out by a bo staff wielding sports bra showing and shivering Momo.

The one with a snake for a tail launched it to Momo as she had the most skin visible, only to choke as Bakugo gripped it tightly near its head and swung the snake and its human over his shoulder into a small pit made by Honenuki that trapped a few others.

"You bastards! I'll kill you!" The leader got up and began to heat up abnormally, turning a really bad color of red as if he was in the sauna for days, and Uraraka saw an empty injection at his feet. As she felt the heat reaching her she rushed to think what she could do to fight back if he turned around and reached her.

He jumped at three of U.A's smartest first years, and a point blank blast from a sneering Bakugo(who was unsurprisingly unaffected by the sudden heat wave) sent him falling face first. "Jaws! Trap him in the cement now!"

"My names Honenuki!" He rushed to Bakugo's orders, coming to the same conclusion of what he needed to do.

With the leader trapped, the rest of them still conscious stopped struggling in fear and shock.

Huh. Maybe the day wasn't going to get a little worse after all? Maybe she was spending too much time with Deku, things always seemed to go sideways when he was involved.

Bakugo put on a bored look as he began to strip the subdued criminals of their potential weapons with Momo. Shoji created some eyes to keep a look out and Shishida remained his his beast form.

She frowned at the black market self destructing equipment, as she heard from Jirou who heard from Kaminari who heard from Kirishima who heard from Bakugo, that they were showing up more and more often. A part of her felt queasy, remembering the raid she took a part of, but before she could think about it too long,

"Eyes focused Round Face. These bastards can still make a run for it at any moment and it'll take the police another minute to get here."

Her eyes swung to Bakugo and his bored-neutral face. It wasn't even his angry-neutral face, so he must be a pretty good mood today.

The thought that he was in a good mood put her in a good mood. After all, if Bakugo was actually happy, then there was probably no reason to feel down.

"I hope our stuff is okay." She said looking at the fallen bags.

Bakugo grunted. "We'll have to buy some new eggs at least. We'll have to check but most of our shit should be fine."

She puffed her cheeks and put a bit more strength in her arm lock, ignoring the whimpers. "Geez. All we wanted was to go get some groceries so we could cook a bunch tonight and then we had to deal with a bunch of criminals." Just another effect from the fall of the symbol of peace. She glanced over to Bakugo, thankful her words didn't seem to hurt him.

Shishida pitched in, "I will say however, these criminals not being very cautious has ended in our favor. The more of them that are off the streets, the better."

Shoji grew a mouth to speak. "It was easy to see that Bakugo caught them off guard with his blunt attitude. Made things very quick for us."

Honenuki chuckled. "I think I'm starting to get why Kendou and Tokage wanted to team up with him so much." Oh, she didn't know those two felt that way towards Bakugo. Though it made sense since the former experienced how absurdly strong Bakugo was(like her) and the latter was interning under the same Hero as him.

"Hah? Everyone wants to fucking team up with the best Jaws. It ain't that hard to figure out." Bakugo said while knocking out one of them that tried to sneak an activation of Trigger by slamming his head into the ground.

Momo sighed, handcuffing them one by one. "Oh Bakugo, if only you cleaned up your language you would be the perfect hero."

"Fuck you Ponytail! I'll be a perfect hero no matter what!" This caused Uraraka to giggle and Honenuki to chuckle.

"Y'know, it feels a bit weird that we took them down so easily." Looking back at their training camp and USJ plus the raid in comparison to times like this.

"We've trained a lot since the villain attacks. It's not surprising that we've become quicker to act now." Momo said to her.

"Cept these punks are even worse than the losers Shigaraki tricked into fighting us." Bakugo said as he stomped on the red eyed goon to stop him from shooting at her.

"Well, not every villain can be a threat on their own." Honenuki commented.

"Although there is power in numbers, our quality defeated their quantity for a reason. Also, the police have arrived." Shoji said, and true to his words she heard the sirens behind her.

From there things were relatively simple. They handed over the criminals and had to deal with the crowd who had watched them except for Bakugo and Shoji who didn't want to bother with the crowd and decided to go replace some of their ruined groceries.

Then the way home were even simpler as Momo called in a LIMO to drive them back.

When they were there, Jirou was there with Kendou who was holding an unconscious Monoma. The two girls took some of the bags from Shoji to help carry it to the kitchen.

"Hey! We just saw the news of what happened! Everything okay?" Jirou asked.

"Yes! Besides the delinquents the trip was easy enough to make even with the large list." Momo sparkled lightly.

"That's great. I know you said you don't want us to repay you, but class B doesn't mind paying back a little Yaoyorozu." Kendou said with a small smile.

"It's not a problem. I see nothing wrong with buying a majority of the supplies needed for tonight." Momo responded, still sparkling in a way that made people smile instinctively.

"Heh heh." Honenuki chuckled and joked. "I wonder if Bakugo's kindness was mistakenly sent to you instead."

"I'm plenty kind you fuckmunch!" He shouted as he got out the supplies and laid them out so he could cook.

"Well I guess that's true in a sense." Kendou and Jirou said in sync.

"Both of you shut up!"

Uraraka only giggled as they teased him lightly. He wasn't kind in an obvious manner like Deku, but he had his moments. After all, he was the one who warned them all to stay out of the kitchen so he could cook something that 'would kill their shitty taste buds', and even went shopping with them without any prompting.

It was a good day, being his friend, even if he didn't admit it himself. Because it meant she could really appreciate just how amazing he was even when he wasn't trying to be. He may be wild and chaotic, but he wasn't a bad guy. After all, a bad guy wouldn't cook what was essentially a feast for two classes unless he was bribed, and Bakugo hadn't asked for anything.

But it's not like he didn't get anything from them. It's just that friendship wasn't really a physical thing to give him, and if it were he would probably just lock it in his closet anyways.

That thought made her giggle. And even though Momo and Kendou asked her why, she figured she'd keep it to herself.

They were all on the same wavelength by now when it came to him after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Itsuka gets another chapter cuz she Bae and also because of the unfortunate news of her VA, hopefully everything ends well though.

NsBAA 4

Itsuka and Yui were both together walking the streets looking for a place to eat. They were out of their uniforms, but had bags on them with some belongings from their homes.

It was rare for them to eat out, especially nowadays where they needed permission to leave the dorms, but the two had individually met up with their parents and decided to get together to eat before heading back. Having gone to the same middle school and lived in the same neighborhood, the two were used to walking together pretty often.

They kept silent, the former not having a topic to talk about and the latter not being much of a talker. They simply enjoyed the peaceful walk while looking for a restaurant that would catch one of or both their attention.

Two girls went unnoticed among the crowd. It was slightly cloudy and the city had lightly snowed.

Yui tilted her head in curiosity before stopping and pulling on Itsuka, who turned to her to see her friend pointing at two boys in front of a restaurant. "It's not like you to point at any boys Yui." She said with a smile. Especially since the two in question weren't at all handsome. They were their age and for some reason looked astounded. They didn't look like criminals, otherwise Yui would have said something.

She found out why Yui pointed at them when she heard their conversation.

"I hadn't expected to run into Bakugo here of all places either. It's almost too bad we were already finishing our ramen when he showed up." The lanky one said.

"I'm more surprised at the way he talked to us. He actually recognized us and didn't shout at us until we brought up Dek- Midoriya."

"Not surprised. Must be way more awkward for him than us since they're sharing classes again somehow. He actually destroyed one of Midoriya's precious notebooks back before he starting re-ignoring the guy's existence."

"Really makes you wonder what the universe has against those guys, what with Midoriya always being put in the same class as Bakugo no matter how much Bakugo wants to avoid the guy."

"Would have been nice if he actually called us by our names though."

"Eh. I guess that's Bakugo for you. I definitely prefer that in comparison to him calling us fucknuggets or something."

As the pair walked away, she looked inside to see Bakugo in a thick jacket who actually looked rather sullen as he ate his giant steaming bowl of ramen at the corner. The two boys' conversation interested and concerned her, but she figured the past was the past. Midoriya and Bakugo didn't get along with each other, or at least any good feelings were extremely one sided, but it didn't look like it actually warranted her attention too. So she decided to focus on her surprise that Bakugo happened to be eating here.

She looked back at her stoic friend. "You mind eating ramen with Bakugo?" Her friend shook her head and walked in with her.

She raised her hand in greeting and Yui copied, though without a smile.

"Heey Bakugo! Fancy meeting you here! You mind if Yui and I eat with you?" He turned to her, eyebrow raised at her and Yui's sudden appearance for a brief second, and his hands went to the headphones currently around his neck, contemplating his answer. In the end, it didn't take long for him to put his hand down and turn his head back to his food.

She stood awkwardly for a second, not sure what that meant, but Yui went ahead and took the seat next to him before looking at her wondering why she was still standing.

She laughed very quietly before taking her seat next to Yui and looking at the menu. Seeing as Bakugo didn't tell them off she figured he gave his approval, something Yui realized as a person of few words. He didn't put on his headphones, so he probably didn't mind any small talk until we got our food.

"So what brought you out here Bakugo?" She asked him.

He slurped up some noodles before answering. "...just bought some shit."

She looked over and next to Yui was a small plastic bag. There was an All Might figure that still had its price labeled(and it was _expensive_) as well as a journal.

It was a weird combination. She knew Bakugo admired All Might like the rest of them, but she didn't think he was the type to buy figures like an otaku-oh-ooooh.

She smiled, unseen by Bakugo who was eating. Looks like there wasn't a need to talk to Bakugo about what she heard after all. She hoped Midoriya didn't give the guy a hard time. She knows the guy's quirk mutation has been giving him hell for the last few weeks, so hopefully he doesn't let it loose on Bakugo in a set of unfortunate timing.

Then again, Midoriya looked like the only person in the entire school who could actually ignore Monoma's provocations, so maybe it wasn't worth worrying about.

She peaked into his bowl, seeing past the blinding steam to see how _red_ it was. "Eeehh? I know you like spicy, but isn't that too dangerous?" She gulped just looking at it, her mouth completely drying up.

He smirked at them and slurped an extra long noodle nearly dyed red.

"Scary." Yui said leaning back. Itsuka realized that her friend could probably smell the spice better than her. Well, better Yui than her as far as she was concerned, she was the one who sat next to Bakugo.

"I don't see how you can eat that type of stuff without any drinks." She said almost disgusted, almost awed, looking over to his untouched drink.

"Scary." Yui repeated with a nod.

"That's a funny way of saying awesome." He snorted.

She giggled while Yui tilted her head, thinking hard with her usual expression, before nodding. "Awesome," She agreed with him.

That made Bakugo's smirk look a little more like a smile, but neither girl said anything of it.

"I guess you two got a point. I can't imagine anyone else eating that Red Death you got there."

That got Bakugo to cough out a laugh, which made Itsuka smile as she ordered ramen for herself and Yui.

"Ne, Bakugo, Vlad-sensei let it slip to me that 1-A and 1-B are going to have another joint Hero class the first day next week. Apparently they're bringing in a Pro Hero to fight against us." As of late the two classes have been seeing each other more and more often. Since the two classes pushed each other, it was decided that to nurture their growth every two weeks they would have at least one class together. Rumors even had it that they would even take practical tests together now too.

She wasn't too surprised he hadn't heard about what their next joint class would be. Eraserhead didn't strike her the type to give his students any advanced warning like Vlad-sensei had a tendency to do.

Bakugo raised an eyebrow. "Did they even decide who to bring in? Has to be someone tough or really smart." Unknown to the two girls he noted to himself to be more careful next time he saw Deku. Last thing he wanted was to get house arrest and miss some sort of fight again.

"Top Ten. Probably." Yui said as she cupped her drink with both hands and sipped. Her smile widened just a tad at her two friends getting along.

"Might be Top 50 with the ramp up on crime lately. Top 10 would be hard to schedule." He grunted in response.

She hummed. "Y'know, not to bring work to the dinner table or anything, but Miruko also mentioned she might be requested to join a Hero Operation. You think she'll accept?"

"She fucking better. Would be a better use of time in comparison to beating down petty thieves and idiotic gang members."

She laughed a little at his response. For someone who looked like he'd rather rip his own throat out than work with others, he was actually quite the team player, as long as he wasn't in some sort of mood.

Not that his 'moods' came often. From what she's heard, they've only been a problem during the first Hero class and during their first internships. Oh, and apparently after their exams for the provisional license exam where he and Midoriya fought. The last time she saw one of his moods personally was sometime after Midoriya's quirk went out of control again during one of their joint training sessions, but it was a pretty subdued mood, and he went back to normal pretty easily since they had the work studies internship with Miruko that day.

"Makes you wonder what'll happen seeing as she's not much of a team player."

"Obviously they're gonna have her run wild on whatever she's being brought to. That woman's barely got a brain in there."

"Unlike you." Yui complimented him. She hoped that Bakugo would know Yui was complimenting him and not trying to mock him despite the lack of emotion in her voice. Not many people really understood what she meant in the sometimes when she talked.

Luckily, he did. "Damn right. I might prefer individual work but I ain't dumb enough to think my strength can solve every problem thrown my way. Just 99% of them."

"I guess you'll be open to working with us and Tokage when the Pro hero comes by then? I was hoping the four of us could group up, and Tokage feels like her best chance against a pro would be with you." Not that she disagreed. Bakugo in all their classes has had a nearly spotless win record except for the times he was matched against Midoriya. Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Tokage herself, and sometimes Monoma also gave Bakugo trouble but not nearly as much as the hero Otaku when he could actually rely on his quirk. Still, most of that seemed to be due to Midoriya having known Bakugo for so long. After him, she was second place in regards to challenging Bakugo.

"Meh. Depends on the Pro. Just cuz we probably aren't expected to win if we fight doesn't mean I'm gonna bend over and take the L. And lizard girl doesn't exactly pack a punch. I'd take Skeletor and his softening over her for a brawl." She had to disagree with his opinion of Tokage's limb swarms. Just because he could shrug them off like nothing didn't mean everyone could.

Still. She felt a grin take over her face as she began to feel excitement at their next class. Fighting with Bakugo was always exciting and a learning experience, whether you're with him or against him, but she was looking forward to being on his side when he was really challenged. Their two classes were pretty advanced, but they still didn't quite match up against some of the best pros. She thought their odds were pretty great as long as the class wasn't just a straight up fight with an unhandicapped Pro.

She then nearly dropped her dropped her drink as Bakugo asked her a question like a normal classmate. "...so you and Mutey have been friends for a while I take it?"

She rubbed the back of her head to compose herself while Yui answered not at all bothered by his nickname for her. "Middle School."

"Heheh, we actually became friends during our first year, but it wasn't until the last year of middle school did we became best friends. The two of us were the only ones who really wanted to be heroes in our neighborhood."

Bakugo just hummed in response and when she looked over she saw that his hand holding the chopsticks were tense.

They loosened before she could say anything to him. "...guess you and the mute must've been a popular pair back then."

Yui's finger tapped her chin in thought while she just laughed. Boys had always followed around Yui while girls had always followed Itsuka.

She felt like returning the same questions, but decided against it. She doubted Bakugo's schooling experience had been as fun as her's and Yui's.

They continued their small talk with Bakugo asking Yui and her questions until their ramen came. Unlike Bakugo who had some sort of mega large bowl, they only had regulars.

Bakugo was surprisingly the type to take his time when eating in order to finish everything, so by the time he was done Yui and Itsuka were nearly finished with their food.

"Ah! Sorry Bakugo, do you think you can wait a bit? Might as well walk back to the dorms together with us since we're almost done." She didn't know why exactly she asked, but realized that she already knew why, it was only natural to want to walk with your friends.

He rolled his eyes and huffed. "Fine. I'll walk you losers to the dorms. Don't get used to it." He leaned back into his seat and put on his headphones, beginning to listen to some music that was probably on his work out playlist. He closed his eyes and she laughed as his sleeping face was rather serene, the complete opposite of when he was awake regardless on if he was angry or not.

"You know, this might be the first time I've ever actually talked to Bakugo that didn't involve school or Herowork."

"Closer."

"You think so? It's a nice thought for sure. But what do you think of him? It's the first time I'd say you've really _met_ him."

"Cool."

"I'm glad. Though I never thought I'd be friends with the guy who declared he'd win the Sports Festival in front of, well, everyone."

"Confident."

"True. Unlike Monoma's or Vlad-sensei's sometimes unnecessary bragging, I'd say Bakugo's earned his confidence. To a point anyways."

"Less loud."

"Haha. That's true. He definitely feels less arrogant when he's not shouting. Now if only that was his default state."


	5. Chapter 5

NsBAA Tooru

Just a note that while making this chapter I did not bother to make sure what I know about working out was correct. I was an athlete, but building up muscle was never a priority, just improving my skill at the sport was.

also holy shit, I wrote this like two months ago and assumed that I had posted it, turns out I didn't so whoops.

Tooru was working hard and exhaustively in the gym inside U.A. It was a rare time as the gym was empty except for floating clothes which were lying on one of the benches as she lifted one of the bars which only had some of the smaller weights on both sides.

It was embarrassing, as working out wasn't exactly something she knew much about except that you were so supposed to do the same thing a lot for eventual progress.

She probably should've asked one of her classmates for advice, but she wanted to suddenly surprise them with some increased strength during one of their Hero Classes. She'd actually applied to Gunhead for work studies and had been accepted, but from what Uraraka told her, she would need more stamina if she didn't want to just faint during her time there. She had some good stamina, she was still of the hero class after all, but it was always good to go beyond what might be necessary, especially since she wanted to make sure she impressed him.

She'd been in the gym for over an hour and only did a set of 10 twice. It was pathetic, but without knowing the safest way to work out she couldn't bring herself to push herself.

She took the weighted bar off the stand to start another set when-

"Is that seriously all you can lift?" She squealed and a hand grabbed the bar before it could fall and set it back safely allowing her to sit up to find out who walked into the gym.

It was thankfully not any of her close friends. That being said, it was also the person most likely to deride her and make her feel more ashamed at her lack of strength.

"Eheh...ehehehe. H-hey there Bakugo-kun. Didn't hear you come in."

She was a little surprised he even noticed her given his general lack of interest in his surrounding and even moreso that he walked up to her. She'd always assumed that with his uninterest in other people he hadn't even known she existed, though the only proof of otherwise was that Kaminari said that Bakugo thought she was flighty or something. And that his usual nickname for her was Uniform or Airspace.

He looked at her like she was stupid, which was either because of her words or because it was becoming his default expression with everyone in the class.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Working...out?" She tipped her unseen head to the side.

He rolled his eyes. "No shit. I mean why are you here alone. That amount of weight might be pathetic but lifting without a spotter is pretty stupid, especially for someone like you Uniform."

She ignored his nickname for her despite the fact she was actually wearing a tank top and workout shorts. "Um, well I kind of wanted to be able to show off my progress and surprise everyone..." She couldn't help but talk nervously. Bakugo was always pretty handsome, but his explosive personality and vulgar way of speaking sort of scared her without anyone else around. This was already the longest exchange of words she's had with him.

He sighed in aggravation. "It ain't smart or safe Airhead. If you want to work out alone, find some tiny-ass dumbbells or just do fucking push ups, not lift a barbell. If you want to lift, just ask fucking Tailboy for help. It's not like he'd fucking mind staring at your floating clothed ass."

She was pretty sure her blush was actually visible by this point. Being...scolded? By Bakugo was embarrassing, but thankfully he hadn't brought up her lack of strength as much as she feared. That being said, the Ojiro comment along with mentioning her ass was unappreciated and embarassing.

"But...aren't you alone?" She asked curiously.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not lifting weights. And I know my limits."

She coughed awkwardly. That made a lot of sense.

"So how long have you been here exactly?"

"Ehehe...um...about half an hour."

"And you've done how many exactly?" He said dryly.

She told him the amount and he could only close his eyes and sigh loudly in more frustration, which was odd as it wasn't as if her exercises concerned him. She felt embarrassed at his reaction, yet thankfully enough, not to the point where she wanted to cry, which is likely due to his subdued reaction(something that was not at all what she expected from him).

He walked behind the bar and pushed her so she was lying down.

"Ah! What was-"

"Next time ask fucking Tailboy or Kirishima to spot you. I ain't messing with my schedule a second time."

It was looking at his eyes which pointed at the general area of her own eyes that she realized why he sounded frustrated.

Not wanting to aggravate him and make him shout, she began her third repetition.

He huffed again in what felt like almost a growl. "For fucks sake. Fix your breathing. You barely started and you're already shaking. In while you lower, out while you lift. Don't hold your breath and don't breathe too loudly. If it gets too hard to put back I'll do it for you."

It didn't take long for her to realize that having someone around made her feel safer and surprisingly comfortable. Oddly enough Bakugo seemed to try refraining at insulting her, instead pushing her to lift properly in his gruff tone each time she did it wrong.

She'd lost count of the amount of repetitions she did under Bakugo's eye. Thankfully he seemed to be counting for her and stopped her accordingly. He handed her a spare water bottle which she promptly chugged down.

She felt bad at interrupting his own workout and drinking some of his water, and she wanted to offer to watch him like he did to her, just to be fair. She just wasn't sure how to offer in a way he would accept, or even if she would actually be of any help.

He narrowed his eyes at her which made her freeze. He scanned her clothes which made herself conscious and reached out to squeeze her wrists and arms.

She flinched but was too tiredly to stop him or even yell in surprise.

"B-Bakugo-kun stop that!" She couldn't rip her arms away and was surprised when he let go, nearly falling off the seat into the ground.

"You had too much trouble lifting for someone who isn't fucking skin and bones. Instead of sneaking off to exercise on your own find a fucking partner so you can stay consistent and build up some muscle. You've done enough for today, unless you want to do push-ups in your room or something. Fix your diet too."

"I'll...do that?"

He sneered, but didn't say anything out loud. He did mutter something about Air and something being Flighty, but she couldn't make it out as he walked over to the pull-up bars and started his exercises.

"Uuuu..." she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

She gathered all her stuff, but remained to watch Bakugo a little longer, even though she felt like running away after her poor showing.

She watched as he slowly and casually pulled himself up the bar, muttering numbers all the while. Unlike her, he didn't have any visible trouble, and it really seemed as if he could do it for an entire day.

"E-erm, Bakugo-kun?" He gave no indication he heard her, so she decided to just continue. "Uh, just wanted to say thanks for helping me, sorry I kept you up. Next time I'll ask Ojiro-kun, so don't worry!"

He still didn't change from his routine, leaving her to awkwardly cough out a breath of air into her hand.

She walked over to the door and looked back to Bakugo who, hearing the door open, looked over and nodded before looking straight and continuing.

Tooru jogged over to the dorms, noting to herself to just ask Uraraka or Ojiro to work out with her next time. If Bakugo of all people lectured her on needing a partner, then it might as well not be worth it to try to surprise anyone.


End file.
